Improvement in horse-boots



G. W. WEM'PLE. Horse-Boot.

No. 205,1-59.- Pat-en'ted-J'une18, 1878.

ATTORNEYS NFEIERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON, D. C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. WEMPLE, OF WEST UNION, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN HORSE-BOOTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 205, 159, dated June 18, 1878; application filed December 29, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. WEMPLE, of West Union, in the county of Fayette and State of Iowa, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Sponge and Felt Foot- Pads; and I do hereby declare that the follow ing is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a perspective View of my sponge and felt foot-pad, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the sole.

This invention is designed as an improvement on the Letters Patent granted to John B. Hall, dated September 21, 187 5, No. 167 ,895; and the improvement consists in the construction of the sole-plate provided with raised side and toe bearing-plates, for the purpose hereinafter set forth. The novelty also consists in the combination of the sole-plate, heel-piece, sponge and straps, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

The annexed drawings, to which reference is made, fully illustrate my improvement.

The pad consists of an iron sole, A, cut to fit the shoe, with projecting heel-piece B, to aid in making the receptacle for the sponge O, and with raised side and toe bearings a a, to keep the plate or sole from squeezing the water out of the sponge, to admit air, and to avoid the nails in adjustment. It is fastened to the foot by means of a wide heel-strap, D, connected to the side straps E E, one of which, on each side, is buckled in front with one buckle, G, just below the hair.

The sponge O is fastened by means of wire, and is saturated with water. This will keep the foot sufficiently moist at the frog, and still allow the shell of the hoof to be free and open to the air in a natural condition. It is cheap and durable, easily adjusted and rinsed out when required, and can be easily carried by traveling men, trainers, and horsemen generally.

The invention is designed to prevent horses feet from becoming diseased while being used on dry hard pavements, streets, roads, and plank floors, all of which are unnatural to the feet, making them dry and hard, causing foot disease usually known as hoof-bound. The frog, which should be spongy, becomes hard, the heel contracts, pinching the foot, crowding the wavicular bone, producing irritation and fever, which hardens, thickens, and destroys the thin flexible sheets'of lamina that surround the coffin-bone, or foot next the hoof, causing intense pain and crippling the horse. In case fever is already contracted, a cloth or felt pad, H, is connected to the straps, as shown, to surround the hoof; and this pad is to be saturated with oil or water.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is j 1. In a horse-boot, the iron sole A, formed to fit the shoe, and provided with the projecting heel-piece B and raised side and toe bearings a, a a, for the purposes explained.

2. The combination of the sole A, heelpiece B, sponge G, bearings a, and straps D E, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE W. WEMPLE.

Witnesses:

JOHN D. GLASS, 0. A. LEWIS. 

